MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

Review Information

Game Reviewed	Super Mario Starshine (Demo), by LongLiveLuigi
Review Author	Cruise Elroy
Created	Jun 14 2015, 3:01 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview

So far, this hasn't been a great year for games for MFGG. Sure, we got TSB2 and Dimensions, but there haven't been many games to play a lot of this year. So when you saw this game come out, you'd probably get excited that something new has come in demo form.

Try not to be.

It's broken, mediocre, and just plain awkward to play. Sure, it's a first time submission, but it's like a lot of first time submissions...from 2006.

So, why does this game need to improve, and why should you stay away until something better can come around? Read on.

Pros	+An okay idea...
Cons	-...that's been met with poor execution -Sloppy and heavy physics -Bad controls -The camera could use some work -The levels look pretty boring (especially the map) -Clashing graphics -Some sounds are a little quiet -Some may not like the soundtrack -It's possible to screw yourself over in a few areas -Power ups don't carry over from level to level

Impressions

Gameplay 3 / 10	The Mushroom Kingdom had seen peace for quite some time. With Bowser out of the picture, the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom have been able to enjoy the peace without a care in the world. But, for an unexplained reason, the stars of the Mushroom Kingdom fall out of the sky and into the hands of various strangers. Mario has now been sent out by Peach to recollect the stars from these strangers and fight off Bowser's minions, once again unexplained. The controls are abysmal. You have your standard left and right to move, but you use up to jump, space to shoot, shift to pause and enter to confirm a selection. Needless to say, this isn't all that user-friendly. Maybe you could try to link them to other keys or add an option to use custom key configurations. The physics aren't that great, either. Mario will instantly move left or right, depending on the key you press, and he heads back to the ground almost as quickly as he leaves it. You'll also clip to the ground and stay there for a bit if you're running and jumping, and the collision isn't good when you're jumping into bricks; sometimes you won't break them, other times you'll break them from 50 feet away. I know it's usually best to do something new with Hello's Engine, but I'd suggest you use it here to make things feel more smooth. The demo contains two powerups for you to use: the Fire Flower and Ice Flower. The Fire Flower works the way it did before, only you don't get coins from enemies. The Ice Flower freezes your enemies in blocks that apparently float in the air and are destroyed after a while. The powerups are okay, but I don't like the fact that you can't take them over from level to level. A lot of this is making this sound like a game that couldn't be a Mario game; even the coins don't behave properly! You collect coins to fill up a red bar, which, when filled, gives you an extra...8-bit Mario. You start with 3 of them each level, and they represent your health. What's wrong with using a simple health HUD? Also, why is it so that you need to only collect about 20 coins for more life? I'd prefer the SMB1 health and lives system. Did I mention that you have infinite lives? Even with the horrid controls, broken collisions, terrible physics and other screwballs, it all pales in comparison to the camera; it's really, REALLY bad. Horizontally, it works fine, but the camera will only scroll up or down if you're right next to the border. How could anyone think that this is a good idea? I mean, this is your first submission and it may make some sense in your head, but geez, the camera alone makes me want to snap. The worst part is that this can easily be fixed. You're going to need to do some work before this is any good.
Graphics 3 / 10	So, we have an 8-bit Mario for lives, SMW Mario, SMB3 shaded enemies and backgrounds, Bews tileset, hi-res and 8-bit font, YI and SMW styled NPCs, and a generic bright red box. Moving on. While the graphics themselves don't look that good together, the game just feels...bland. There's no scenery except for in the map, and the map isn't even that impressive. It's just a field of green with a few trees and hills.
Sound 5 / 10	The sounds are fine, but the sound Mario makes when he jumps is too quiet. You may have heard all the songs in this game from before, though. Music from SMW, Paper Mario, YI and NSMB all make a return in MIDI form. Some may not like the fact that various songs return in MIDI form, but I don't have too many problems with sound (even though I don't really like it).
Replay 3 / 10	You can try to collect the Star Medals, but they don't seem to do anything. Afterwards, there's nothing left to do. This IS a demo, however, so I'm going to be a bit flexible here.

Final Words

It's not great, but I have seen worse first fangame attempts. Here's to hoping the next demo is better.

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